


White Whale, Holy Grail

by dragondoughnut



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, MerMay, NaNoWriMo, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-15 20:51:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18677182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragondoughnut/pseuds/dragondoughnut
Summary: They make eye contact for the first time, and it hits him just how… Beautiful those eyes are. An intense gaze, with a reddish color he’s never seen before in an orca merperson. It’s enough to make him pause even as his heart pounds in his chest out of anxiety and so much more. He wants to swim away, but he can’t.





	1. Our Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is an akeshu au where they are orca merpeople that have been forced into captivity and are longing to be free.
> 
> Honestly? I got depressed about orcas in captivity. I couldn't get it out of my head so I was like, okay. I'm writing an akeshu fanfiction with this theme because I'm also obsessed with akeshu. Except it would be weird if they were just orcas so they're orca merpeople that are the size of actual orcas now. I wrote this for nanowrimo last November and I haven't looked at it since, but I figure since it is MerMay I may as well attempt to go back to writing this. I will update tags as I go for there will eventually be more characters.

 

For two years he has been completely alone.

Other than the humans who call themselves  _trainers_ , that is.

 

“What’s all this about?”

“Didn’t you hear? We’re getting another orca.”

“Another orca?”

“That’s right. Though, you shouldn’t get too excited...”

“Why not? Another orca… You know what this means, don’t you?”

“I told you not to get too excited! I’ve heard that this one is aggressive.”

“Aggressive? Why would they give us an aggressive orca to work with?”

“You know why. They don’t want it at the other parks. We only have one orca here… Even if he is the star of our show.”

 

Two years he has been alone in this tank, but he’s been in captivity far longer than that.

Usually, he likes to float at the top of his tank as he sleeps. However, lately, the voices of the trainers as they go about their nightly duties has been irritating him far more often than usual. With a stroke of his powerful tail he’s underwater where the voices are at least slightly muffled by the water that engulfs him. Hopefully, he can get some actual rest. He knows once he needs to breathe his body will float him towards the surface to take a breath, anyway. It’s subconscious by this point. While he’s under the water there’s mostly the sound of his heart pounding as it sends his blood throughout his body, the heavy-duty filters for his tank and the far-off vocalizations of the other types of merpeople at the park. He directs his attention towards the surface where he had come from and he feels a shudder throughout his body as the sight triggers his memories. His mind slips in to a dream-like state as he remembers what it was like to not be in captivity like this. He still remembers being guided to the surface by his mother so that he could breathe for the first time. Back then, he had expected to live by his mother’s side for his entire life. Yet, here he was. Alone.

Everything had gone horribly wrong when he was just a calf. If he hadn’t been born such a cursed one, perhaps he would still be with his mother instead of here. They had swum too close to the shores of Japan, and he had been seen. More clearly than he remembers his own mother, he remembers the nets. The cries from his small transient pod. The way his mother had gotten herself tangled within the net in her attempt to escape. The panic he felt as he tried to untangle her with his tiny hands while she thrashed about, only to watch the life in her eyes leave as she drowned. Eventually, after days of misery and starvation he is restrained and lifted out of the ocean by the humans who had captured him.

He blames himself for her death. The humans wouldn’t have bothered with them if his lower body wasn’t so  _white_ . His pod hadn’t cared what he looked like, but perhaps… Perhaps they should have. They should have killed him as a calf instead of letting him attract the greedy eyes of humans. Don’t get him wrong, he doesn’t just blame himself for her death. He would have let himself die long ago if he had. No, there was so much more to it than that. The man who had first seen the color of his fin and his worth as a commodity was just as guilty of her death, if not more so.  _He_  would be the one to die.

Until then, much like this night… He would bide his time.

He was the star of the show, after all. It was just not the show everyone thought it would be.

 

~~~

 

Akira was still in shock that this was happening to him.

He’s been with his pod his entire life!

He can’t believe he’s been taken away from them like this. He hadn’t even done anything wrong! Yet, his cries were left unanswered by the humans who lifted him into their truck from the sea pen he had been rounded up into. He should have known something was wrong that night. There had been a boat surrounded by fish as was usual for the type of boat it was. His pod was large, and they would often swim close to these boats to get an easy meal along their way, but this time it was different. There was an unusual ship that was cruising past the fishing boat that he hadn’t seen before. After he ate his fill, he was curious enough about the new ship to split away from his pod to check it out. However, by that point the ship was already farther away than it was before. Being much faster this ship obviously had somewhere to be, but he was oblivious. He had no idea it was heading towards the shore. He was simply having a blast jumping through the waves it left in its wake.

Eventually, it made a stop near land and he had the sudden realization that he had become much farther away from his pod than he had ever expected to be. He should have turned back to find his way home to his pod right away.

Instead, he remembers swimming close enough to see two humans on a pier. They must have just left the unusual ship. Suddenly, there was a struggle between the two and the smaller human was trying to get away while the other was grabbing onto her as if to force her back towards the ship. He couldn’t just not do anything! He did what anyone would do – He swam toward the pier and breached his way up onto it with a loud expulsion from the blowhole upon his upper back.

While both humans were startled by his sudden presence, the larger of the two had tripped and fallen forward to slam his forehead against the pier. Everything else after that was fuzzy. There was blood, and the rage in the human’s eyes had frightened him enough that he slid back into the water to attempt an escape. Up until that moment he had no idea that humanity could be capable of such an intense emotion. It wasn’t like he had never seen a human up close before. He had seen plenty! Usually, they were in tiny boats and in awe of his pod as they swam past. Yet, this human… For the first time in his life this human would put the fear of humanity within his body and soul.

Even as he attempted his escape, he quickly made a realization. He couldn’t just swim back to his pod when there was a possibility that the humans might follow him to them. He’s heard stories about entire pods being wiped out by humans. He couldn’t just thrust that fate upon his pod… His family. He would rather they think he were lost out at sea than for him to lose them entirely. The matriarch always told them never to get too involved with humans. They may come up to them, and them to the humans – That much is true, but no matter what they should always keep their distance. One never knows what type of human they might swim into. He had no choice. He had to keep his distance from his pod... At least until he knew for sure that the humans would not follow. Then, once the human’s fury was abated, he would head home.

However, he truly underestimated the fury in that human’s eyes. Once again he was oblivious. He had no idea there would be no chance for him to escape that night.

That’s what brought him here inside this truck. At first, they had rounded him up with their net into a sea pen where they poked at him with long white sticks and tried to feed him dead fish. He had no desire to eat anything the humans were trying to offer him… No matter how hungry he became. Oh, and hungry he certainly became. He was starving by then, but he still shook his head every time they brought a dead fish to his face. What was wrong with these humans? Didn’t they know orcas ate live fish?

He supposes that gross dead food is the least of his worries. He still has no idea where these humans were even taking him. To get him into the truck he was in now the humans had to force him in to what they had called a ‘stretcher,’ then they used it to carry him out of the water in a way he was very not comfortable with. He  _likes_  breaching out of the water as high as he can, but this height was something else entirely. He let his displeasure known in various ways. Mostly by sound and movement of his body, but he was completely ignored by just about everyone. They couldn’t understand him. Oh, if only he had the ability to speak with these humans! He  _knew_  they were as intelligent as he was. There was just no way he could communicate with them. He was pretty sure they would just ignore him even if they could understand him.

A miserable sound escapes his otherwise useless larynx. One of the humans beside him in the tank uses their hand to splash some water over his body to keep him from drying out. They still have him in the stretcher they put him in to take him out of the ocean. Except, now they have him dunked within a shallow tank that he barely fit in. They have been traveling for quite some time. Occasionally the humans will change places, or the truck will stop and a few humans will leave the tank while at least one stays. Even with his echolocation he can’t really tell where he is. There’s nothing familiar to him in the area, that’s for sure. Either way, he’s incredibly discombobulated and hasn’t done much other than squirm. It’s not like he could really attempt an escape in this state, anyway. He might be able to get out of the tank, but then what? He would still be on land, and who knows what else is out there past the walls of this truck. He’s never been this far from the ocean before.

Eventually, the truck stops like it has done a few times. However, this time the energy the humans were emanating was different than before. Instead of a few leaving the tank this time they remain nearby and keep close to him until suddenly there are more humans coming inside. Much like getting him in the tank it doesn’t take them long to get him out. He slaps his tail about as if in a subconscious attempt to escape, not that it matters much when he’s been hauled this high up into the air. From here he can at least see where he’s been brought.

Turns out being able to see where he’s been brought doesn’t matter much when he still has no idea where he is. At least the humans were bringing him towards a larger body of water than the tank he was in while he was on the truck, but it was overwhelmingly small in comparison to the ocean they had taken him from. As he is slowly dipped into the water by the humans, he can’t help but to tentatively use his echolocation.

Only to realize that  _there was another orca merperson in the water they were putting him in._ How could they just put him in the water with a stranger? He had no idea who this was!

He lets out a very unhappy squeal towards the humans, but as usual they ignore his cries. It wasn’t like they had been listening to him before, why would they listen to him now? Earlier, around when he had first been put into the tank (so, hours ago), they had done a few odd examinations to his body. Now, they were poking at him with a few more unusual objects before finally releasing him into the pool. Immediately, he swims out of the stretcher and as far away from the humans as he can. He doesn’t want anything to do with them anymore. As if to add insult to injury, one of the humans throws a dead fish into the water.

He does have to give the orca merperson credit. As curious as they must be that they have a new acquaintance, they have kept their distance.

Until now.

As the orca merperson makes their way over, Akira’s brain short circuits and a serious attempt is made to escape from the tank. An action that seems to startle not only the orca merperson, but also the humans who were continuing to watch their interactions. They all rush over toward where he has decided to breach onto land, and before he can make his way back into the water by himself to get away from them, they’re pushing him right back into the water with an unceremonious splash. He blindly swims away as fast as he can from the humans and collides right into the orca merperson, who finally grabs at him with their long-clawed hands.

They make eye contact for the first time, and it hits him just how…  _Beautiful_  those eyes are. An intense gaze, with a reddish color he’s never seen before in an orca merperson. It’s enough to make him pause even as his heart pounds in his chest out of anxiety and so much more. He wants to swim away, but he can’t.

 _“Calm down,”_ a voice clicks inside his mind. However, it’s not his own voice. It’s the other orca merperson’s.

 _“Calm down?_ Calm down?  _How am I supposed to do that? I’m scared, hungry, and I miss my pod!”_ His pupils are blown wide. _“I don’t want to be here. I want to go home!”_

The orca merperson keeps his calm, _“Why are you hungry? There’s food. Look.”_  They slowly let go of him as if to make sure he doesn’t just swim off in another panic-fueled attempt to escape the tank they were in. Once they’re sure he won’t do that again once they turn their back, they swim over toward where the dead fish was thrown in by the humans. They grab at it with their toothed mouth, then make their way back over toward their new acquaintance with an elegant stroke of their tail. Honestly, Akira has his jaw slack in awe. Which is why it’s not difficult for them to press the fish they carried into his mouth. They make eye contact again and slowly… Tentatively, he bites down upon the fish. The taste isn’t like anything he’s had before, but his brain makes the connection that as dead as it is… It’s food. He can eat it to survive.

_“See? It’s just food. It’s not even that dead.”_

An expression of skepticism is given, but he swallows the offered food down his throat.

 _“Are you going to be calm now?”_ Suggests the orca merperson as if the past day hasn’t been the most traumatizing Akira’s ever had. _"I understand that you’re scared, but you’re alive. I also understand that you want to go back to your pod, but you’re stuck here now. There isn’t anything you or I can do about that.”_

Akira has no idea what to say to that. They’re right, but that doesn’t mean he feels any better about the situation he’s in.

_“Hmm. Not very talkative, are you?”_

_“I thought transient orca merpeople were quiet,”_ Akira mopes.

 _“Supposedly, only when we’re hunting,”_ his new acquaintance points out.  _“I wouldn’t know. There isn’t exactly anything to hunt in here. They hand feed you.”_

_“They?”_

_“The humans. They will hand feed you as well, in time. Once they are aware that you know not to bite the hand that feeds you.”_

_“I don’t need to be hand fed by humans! I can hunt for my own food.”_

_“You won't have to hunt for your own food ever again. They won't allow you to. Instead, you get to entertain the masses for your food. However, you’re new. I wouldn’t want to overwhelm you with too much information so soon. What you should know is that the humans have already given you a name, Kurusu.”_

Kurusu? _"That’s not my name! My name is—”_

Akira is interrupted immediately,  _“It is now. My name is Akechi.”_

 _“I want to know your_ real _name,”_ Akira argues with a snap of his jaws.

However, Akechi just frowns at him and swims up towards the surface. As overwhelmed and frustrated as he was, Akira’s instincts take over and he follows. Once they reach the surface, they both exhale from their blowholes, then take deep breaths of air before they slip back into the water. They move together in such a fluid motion it was almost as if they had known each other for years even if they hadn’t even known each other for thirty minutes. Yet, Akira can’t help but feel a strange kinship with Akechi. They aren’t family, but… He must admit he does feel calmer than he might have been in this situation otherwise. He’s also absolutely exhausted by now. He’s had a very long day, and he’s barely slept. He wonders if Akechi realizes this. Mostly due to the way he was swimming slowly and quietly through the tank. This made it easy for Akira to instinctively follow and let part of his brain shut down to sleep for the night.


	2. Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There

 

When Akira awakens he’s subconsciously floating at the surface so that he can breathe. He must have been asleep for a while as the sun is currently beaming down hotly against his back making him wonder if his skin would burn. In an attempt to avoid the heat of the sun he dives beneath the surface, but even the bottom of the tank was not deep enough to escape. As he cautiously swims throughout the depths of the tank he can't help but think that at least he was calmer now than he was last night... Even if he is still shaken from the entire ordeal. He takes this chance where he's still calm to swim toward the surface and use his eyes look around the water he’s been unceremoniously dumped into, only to see that there are various humans around the outside perimeter of the tank he's in. A few even look at him out of curiosity now that he’s become more alert. It takes him far longer than he would like to admit to realize exactly what had woken him up in the first place -- This entire time there have been loud noises coming from not too far away. He quickly discovers these noises are coming from an area he is unable to access due to a gate in his path. Akechi must be beyond that gate. The other orca merperson wasn’t in the same location like he was before. Akira can’t help but let out a mournful noise. He’s _lonely_.

It surprises him when he hears an unusual click in return. The gate he is currently pressing his face against is not the only one. Nearby was yet another gate, and it turns out the humans at the perimeter of the tank were not the only ones taking an interest in the newcomer inside. At the second gate is a merperson of the dolphin family, but not an orca like he is. He can tell because they are smaller and their clicks toward him are at a much higher pitch than his own. However, he is certainly able to understand them -- For the most part. Even with their accent he could tell that they were simply curious about him. However, when he got close enough to look them in the eyes through the gate there was a sharp whistle from afar and they were gone before he could get a word in. This close to the gate he can see that there are multiple dolphin merpeople on the other side. They must be swimming towards a human that he can't see. He has no desire to be anywhere near a human, let alone one he can't see. He pushes away from the gate, then slips deeper into the water so that he can go back to restlessly swimming in circles. Perhaps he is less calm than he thought.

As he completes another lap around the tank, he notices that there is a glass wall through which he can see more humans. He’s not sure why it’s like that at first, but as he swims past the humans he can see that they follow him with their eyes. A smaller human even presses their hands against the wall as if they might be able to touch him as he passes them by. Suddenly feeling like he’s always being watched, he thrusts his tail through the water to push him back up toward the surface. He takes a breath, then swims back towards the first gate.

Since there are only two gates in the tank he is in, Akira figures that he must be right in thinking that Akechi is on the other side of the first one. He can still hear the loud noises from over there. Unsurprisingly, when Akira reaches the gate, he discovers that it is still shut tight. He can’t go past it to find Akechi on the other side. This time he tries to peek through it to see what might be over there. What he sees absolutely shocks him. There weren’t just a few humans around the perimeter like at his current area, oh no. There were more humans sat at the perimeter of this other, larger area than he has ever seen in his entire life. They were all facing in the same direction towards the larger tank, too! It was unbelievable! What were they all even looking at?

Akira’s question is given an answer way faster than he expected it to. Almost as if answering the question himself, Akechi shoots out of the water the highest that Akira has ever seen another orca mer breach. It was stunning, and the humans who were watching certainly thought so as well. They were cheering and clapping their hands loudly for Akechi as he splashes back into the water. Akira finds himself watching Akechi far longer than he expects to. The only reason he’s able to pull himself away from the gate is the sudden movement in the water behind him.

One of the humans at the perimeter of the tank has fluffy, dark hair and is wearing a skin-tight suit similar in color to his own skin. She is currently patting the surface of the water with her hand and dipping a fish into the tank before pulling it back up. Considering he only ate the one fish that Akechi had fed him the other night, Akira was hungry for more. However, he really doesn’t want to get too close to the human. Even if she was dangling the fish above the surface in such a tantalizing way that only an idiot wouldn’t go for it when they were as hungry as he was. In the end, he can’t help himself anymore. He cautiously swims his way towards the human. When he gets close enough, the human just as cautiously reaches out and presses the fish against his lips. They stare each other in the eyes, then he slowly opens his mouth. The human looks relieved as he does so, then she tosses the fish into his mouth so it lands against his tongue. He closes his mouth, then dips back under the water to eat it at his own leisure. He’s not sure why, but he gets the feeling that she was as nervous around him as he was around her. Perhaps it’s because of the relief he had seen upon her face when he had taken the offering from her as if he would have taken her hand with it. Though, perhaps she was just relieved that he was eating at all, considering how he had rejected their dead fish at first. Either way, he finishes swallowing the fish down his throat and then heads back up towards the surface for a breath of air and another fish from the human if he can get one.

At his return to the surface, the human indeed has another fish offering for him. She reaches her arm out towards him. He takes this one into his mouth just like the last, then disappears right back under the water to eat it before the human can do anything else. She seems to be watching him with caution, which Akira finds strange. The humans from the other day didn’t seem to have too much interest in him other than keeping him alive through his transportation, Meanwhile, this one seems nervous to be this close. He doesn’t delve too deep under the surface this time so that he can keep an eye on her. Once he’s done eating his second fish of the day, he pokes his head (then, the rest of his upper body) out of the water to get a closer look. She gives him an odd look in return, “Jeez… You’re not like the dolphins that I’m used to at all. What were they thinking assigning me to you on such short notice?”

She sounds exasperated, but it doesn’t seem like her exasperation is aimed towards him at least. He blinks at her. She lets out a sigh, “I might as well introduce myself to you even if you don’t understand me. My name is Sadayo Kawakami. Though, you can call me Ms. Kawakami. I will be your trainer, so you should listen to me. Okay?”

He has no idea how to answer that in a way she might understand, so he simply exhales through his blow hole. That seems to startle her a bit. She must not have expected him to be able to reply to her question like that. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think you could actually understand me…” She shakes her head in disbelief, then pulls away from the perimeter so that she can retrieve another fish from a bucket at her side.

By this point, Akira can tell that the loud noises that had woken him up earlier have gotten quieter. It hasn’t become as completely quiet as he would like, but he can hear himself think a bit better than he could before. As he waits for another fish from Ms. Kawakami, the gate that kept him separate from Akechi was beginning to open. More excited than he expected to be to hear the gate open, he turns away from the perimeter and dives beneath the surface. He swims quickly towards the gate, then passes through it before it opens all the way so that he can meet back up with Akechi. However, once he’s past the gate he remembers this area is wider than where he’s been. Instinctively, he wants to swim in a straight line. He tries to, but there’s only so much space for him to swim forward before he reaches a glass wall and he must make a turn. As he follows the wall for a while, he notices that there are humans watching him from the other side with curiosity, shock and awe on their faces. They must not have expected him to be there, but Akechi sure does. Akechi is suddenly swimming by his side, much better at swimming in the tank than he was.

“ _What were you doing before_?” Akira asks as they swim together. The water in this area also tastes like fish, so Akechi must have been being fed while he was in here.

“ _Entertaining the humans_ ,” Akechi answers matter-of-factually. “ _They will have you doing the same. You’re doing a fine job of it as it is. You weren’t exactly supposed to just come in here. The gate opening was for me_.”

“ _How was I supposed to know that? I just saw that the gate was opening. I wanted to be near you_.”

That seems to startle Akechi into silence. He must not be used to being around others, while Akira was starving from a lack of another’s presence.

“ _Anyway, I’m not entertaining anyone. I just noticed this area was wider in length, so I wanted to get a good swim in_.”

“ _Fair enough_ ,” Akechi agrees as they continue to swim for another lap around the tank. “ _Eventually, the humans are going to herd us back through the gate._ ”

Akira is displeased to hear that, “ _Why don’t they just let us swim in here?_ ”

“ _The humans have their reasons_ ,” Akechi points out. “ _This is the show tank. Usually, I am only here a few times a day. The one you were introduced into is the observatory tank and is where we will be spending most of our time. It is there where the humans can see us the most as there is both an open surface and the depths_ . _You must have taken notice of the glass panel they use so they can see us._ ”

“ _Yeah. Do they really want to see us that badly?”_

“ _That is correct_.”

“ _Don’t they know that they can just see us from the ocean? Lots of humans do that! I’ve seen them from afar on their boats_.”

“ _Most humans don’t have boats; only very rich ones do. Anyway, when they’re on their boats… Humans can’t exactly see us from the depths. That’s why they have the glass panel in the observatory tank. Gives them the illusion that they are able to swim with us_.”

“ _Is that why we’re here? For humans to ogle at us?_ ” Akira snaps his jaws in displeasure.

“ _Mm. That is basically what we’re here for, yes. Humans pay a lot of money to see us up close._ ” Akechi suddenly slows down, which causes Akira to slow down along with him so that he does not get too far from his side. Eventually, Akechi makes a stop near where some smaller humans have their tiny hands pressed up against the glass while they gaze into the tank at them.

“ _These calves aren’t so bad. The humans call them children._ ”

Akira’s body brushes up against Akechi’s, then he leans in close to get a good look at the so-called children. Their eyes are wide in awe. One even sways their tiny hand against the glass as if in an excitable wave, which gives him the idea to do the same in return. The child squeals in delight and jumps up and down, startling both Akira and the other child that was beside them. Akechi’s blowhole bubbles with amusement, “ _They tend to do that. You’ll get used to it, eventually._ ”

Suddenly, as if only now realizing that Akira’s body was pressed up against his, Akechi pulls away from Akira’s side and heads toward the surface to take a breath. Akira remains by the glass to observe the children. If they were here to observe him, he might as well do the same in return, right? Even if he still wasn’t sure what to make of them, he could use this opportunity to get an idea of what they were like. Akechi was right in that these children didn’t seem too bad. It wasn’t like they were the ones who brought him here, but then he wouldn’t be here in the first place if humans didn’t want to see him this up close in the first place. Though, he’s not exactly sure what they would have done to him otherwise. He wasn’t exactly here because they wanted him to be. He was here because… Wait, why was he here? Even with the rage in that human’s eyes, he shouldn’t be… He shouldn’t be here. He should be with his pod, where there were calves that were his own nieces and nephews that he could play with.

Akira lets out a noise of anguish, then swims away from the children so that they won’t see that he is upset. He remains at the bottom of the tank until Akechi brushes against his side.

“ _How long have you been here_?” Akira asks, almost afraid to hear the answer.

“ _Two years,_ ” answers Akechi without pause. “ _My seventeenth birthday is soon._ ”

“ _At least we’re close in age, then? I’m sixteen and will be for a while still._ ”

Even as he tries to sound hopeful in this situation that he’s gotten himself into, he sounds sad. Which must be why Akechi remains by his side this time. “ _Let’s head back through the gate before the humans start to herd us out. You’re not trained, yet. You have an excuse, but I do not.”_

A sigh escapes through Akira’s blowhole in the form of bubbles, but at Akechi’s bodily nudge they’re both on the move towards the open gate. Once they get through the gate it’s no surprise to Akira that it begins to close. At least this time he won't be alone on this side anymore.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out it will take longer for chapters to come out as this is where I left off after nanowrimo last November. I will also be in England for two weeks! I doubt I will be able to get much writing done during that time, but we shall see. I hope that you have enjoyed what I have been able to write so far! Let me know in the comments below what you think. It is so nice to get them!


End file.
